Girls' Everyday Wartime
by Grimalkinii
Summary: Shoko Kurosawa, a bossy, energetic, and truant high-school girl teams up with her best friend from middle school, the introverted chuunibyou Tamae Wakabayashi, in order to help Shoko and her family out of debt. Based primarily on the Ribbon Warrior spinoff.
1. Chapter 1

_The hero's journey had come to an end. He drew his sword and looked at the heinous villain who had slaughtered his whole family and village in who was standing in front of him, and he charged at him, and the two locked swords!_  
 _"You won't defeat me, Shadow!" the villain shouted as a purple aura flared up around him._  
 _"Heh... That's what you think, dumbass..." said Shadow, his own amazing red aura flaring up around him, making his red and black clothes flutter with the raw energy being released._

A female voice called from downstairs. "Tamae, come eat dinner!"

The girl with messy black hair, thick rectangular glasses, and pale skin from staying indoors too much stood up from her seat in front of the glowing screen of the laptop. _Shadow should definitely use his Incinerator Demon Cannon against the villain once he gloats about killing Shadow's friends,_ Tamae thought as she stepped down the stairs and made her way to the dining room. She sat on the floor as her father piled a small heap of food onto a plate and placed it in front of Tamae. "You didn't hear your mother the first few times she called you," he said. "Were you watching that anime again? What was it? _'Your Superhero High School?'_ "

"No, Dad, I was writing my stories," she replied in her meek voice.

"Oh, I see," said the elder Wakabayashi, grinning at his daughter. "You know, if you keep that up, you could be famous one day."

"I don't know about that, dad. I've told you I don't really think -"

"Nonsense. You can do anything you put your mind to."

"Your dinner's getting cold; eat, Tamae," said her mother sternly. Tamae took the hint and began to do as she was told. The food was good, as her mother's cooking always was, and soon the plates of the Wakabayashi family were empty. They were piled into the sink and summarily washed by Mr. Wakabayashi - it had been Tamae's turn last night - and Tamae was climbing the stairs again. "Try not to stay up too late, tonight," her mother called after her. "You need to be up early tomorrow."

"I know, Mom," she replied, before going to her room. _Now, should I have Shadow get a cool new transformation?_ she thought.

***  
Shoko's mother had blown it again. Now they were even further in debt and there would be little food this week. Her father was a hard-working man, she knew, but that didn't excuse his failure to reign his wife in. Shoko couldn't and wouldn't stand around outside the door to her home listening to her parents scream and throw things at each other, and made her way to the old storage shed directly to the left of the lighthouse tower overlooking the sea.

She threw the doors open violently and tripped over a rake that fell in front of her, which she promptly picked up and threw out onto the lawn angrily. She brushed a few strands of dyed blonde hair out of her face and checked the backs of her hands as well as her knees for any cuts or scrapes. Her tanned skin was unblemished, and so she stood up and put a hand on the large metal structure within the shed: an old Toldi I light tank. It had been Shoko's grandmother's before she passed away, and was left to her, as she was in elementary school at the time and it was assumed she would attend a school which offered Senshado. That had not been the case, but Shoko had managed to keep her mother from gambling the tank away, and it became her escape of sorts.

She climbed in through the driver's hatch, not bothering to shut it, and started the engine. Her family never tried to stop her from leaving, and despite not having a license, these roads were rural and never policed. Shoko got the tank moving and began to drive somewhere not quite far away enough from her home. She stopped momentarily in the middle of the road to use her cell phone to text a friend to tell her parents she would be coming over. The friend responded with a short, but mechanically-perfect answer, something Shoko didn't understand when it was much easier to type things out shorthand and with cute emojis.

About thirty minutes and a few miles of rough dirt and smoothly-paved roads later, at half-past ten, Shoko showed up at Tamae's house. The outside light was on, Shoko finding the door unlocked as she tried the handle. The inside of the house was neat and clean, something she could see even with the lights dimmed. Mrs. Wakabayashi was sitting on the sofa to her right with the television on some late-night talk show; her husband was nowhere to be seen, and Shoko assumed he was in bed. "Tamae's upstairs in her room. You know where it is," she said quietly with a smile. Shoko nodded and begun to head up the stairs,

The first thing she said when she was through the door was "Tama, get off your computer. I'm mad."

"One second," she said, minimizing the browser window she had open, revealing a desktop background of some anime character with spiky white hair from the current season. "What is it?"

"I'm sick of not having money, and my parents are awful with it."

"There's not too much I can do about that, Shokotan..."

"Sure there is."

"What do you mean?"

With that, Shoko opened the browser on her cellphone and showed her friend the page she had open. It detailed a new highly-unregulated and legally-ambiguous form of Senshado, called Tankathlon. Tamae took the phone for a moment and scrolled through the page, parsing the information as she went. "Shoko, we could actually lose money this way. It says here the competitors have to compensate for damage and their own equipment."

"Well yeah, but that's why we win and get really big. I've already got a tank, so we don't need to buy one, and it just so happens to meet the weight requirement."

"I don't know, I've never really been interested in Senshado..."

"Good, because this isn't Senshado. You and me, tomorrow, we're going to go get the stuff we need."

"With what money?"

"You have an allowance, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"But you were just gonna waste it on one of those... what are they called, ojee boards, right?"

"Ouija boards."

"Right, those. Think of all the ouija boards you could buy if you could get in on those cash payouts."

"That's true, and I could probably afford a lot of new games, too, but we have school tomorrow, Shoko."

"Not anymore we don't."

And that was that. Tamae didn't press the issue any further; she had a hunch that this was one of Shoko's schemes, but she seemed determined and it was better not to push it - and if Shoko was determined to do it, Tamae wanted to make sure she didn't bite off more than she could chew. After a moment of silence, Shoko spoke up. "Your tank driver's license isn't expired or anything, is it?"

"No, why?"

"Then you can be the driver."

"Me? Didn't you drive here?"

"Yeah, but you don't need a license to command, or gun, or load... If we were to get stopped on the way to a match and I was driving, well..."

"Ah. I suppose I can drive... Hey, Shoko, wanna watch some of this new anime that just came out? I think you'd like it. It's about this guy who's the son of an evil dragon and he has to try to defeat him."

"Oh? Sure, sure. Sounds right up my alley."

They woke up late. Not that it mattered, but Tamae's father had woken them up after realizing they had slept in, made them eat breakfast, and ushered them off to school. Tamae had offered to drive the tank to get some practice in, and Shoko accepted. Luckily, it wouldn't be hard to trick Mr. Wakabayashi, as he had to work and there was a Senshado supply shop in town. Tamae had taken her bag with her and stuffed most of her saved-up allowance into it, and after her father left, the two were off to the shop.

They arrived soon enough and dismounted the tank after parking it in the lot next to a new silver sports car and across from an old dark green van. They walked into the shop and were greeted by the woman manning the register. Shoko waved to her, and Tamae remained quiet. "Hey, point us to where the Senshado stuff is. Like, the bullets, yeah?" Tamae nudged her friend gently.

"Say please," she whispered.

"Ah. Please."

The woman at the counter smiled; she didn't look too much older than either girl. "Of course; all Senshado supplies are the back wall of the store. If you need help with anything else, let me know, okay?"

"Sure thing," Shoko said, before dragging Tamae along to the back of the store. Along the way, Shoko looked left and right at what was actually on the shelves; she was surprised to find most of it was just official Senshado League merchandise, from Saint Gloriana tea to Selection University bumper stickers to Anzio pasta cookers.

"Why's all this random stuff here? I get that it's Senshado **related** , I guess, but isn't it sort of strange to have pasta pots in a tank shop?"

"Not really. That's how the store stays in business," replied Shoko. "They have to make money somehow, and I'm sure they're not meeting their rent just by selling tank parts here, of all places."

"I guess when you put it like that, it makes sense."

After about an hour of careful phone-browsing and shopping, the two left the shop after paying for their things. The woman at the counter was more than happy to help them, and while Shoko chatted casually with her Tamae stood behind her friend playing a mobile game. Shoko unwrapped and began to eat a chocolate bar she'd thrown in with their other purchases. All in all, they'd put a considerable dent in Tamae's saved-up allowance. "Alright, Tamae, let's go practice."

"Where?"

"The space by my house is plenty empty. No one will mind if we drive around there and set up a few targets," Shoko said as she climbed into the turret of the Toldi, bringing with her their purchases.


	2. Chapter 2

Shoko spent most of their trip to the field by her house loading the shells she'd bought into box magazines for loading into the tank's gun. They arrived without any trouble, and targets were set up by the two girls in various places around the field. Climbing back into the vehicle, Tamae spoke up from the driver's position. "Hey, can I play some music?"

"Yeah, sure! It'll help us concentrate or something, right?" Tamae began to play music from her cellphone, turning the volume all the way up on her phone so that it sounded throughout the tank. As she begun to move the tank around, the two girls found it nearly impossible to make out the music over the sounds of the engine. Tamae stopped the tank and turned the volume on her cell phone down. Shoko scratched her chin. "How expensive do you think it would be to buy a sound system for the tank?"

"Sorry, Shokotan, but I'm not buying a sound system for the tank."

"I'll even install it."

"I'm not buying one."

"No music it is, then," Shoko sighed. "Let's start. Tamae, you need to be able to listen to me, and the tank's loud, right? So how about if I yell orders and kick you in the shoulder so you know to turn that way? Oh, and I'll kick you in the back if I want you to stop or go."

"We should have bought headsets... Just, um, try not to kick me too hard."

"Don't worry, I won't leave any bruises."

With that, Shoko kicked Tamae in the middle of the back. She kicked a little too hard and Tamae let out a slightly exaggerated "ouch", but they were off. Shoko took her place at the gun and begun to send twenty millimeter bullets flying towards the targets. Of course, she missed. When she had emptied the magazine, she removed it and replaced it with a new one. _That's gonna be a pain_ , she thought to herself. As they came upon a target, Shoko kicked her friend in the back, and the tank came to a stop. As it stopped, Shoko fired several rounds through the target.

They spent about three hours practicing their tank driving skills. The two girls had hopped out of the tank to check on their progress; there was slight, but definite improvement when comparing number of hits from earlier in the day against when they had finished. "I asked you not to kick me so hard," Tamae whined.

"Sorry. I just got really into it," Shoko replied. "Besides, this is for the oji-san boards, right?"

"Ouija boards. And I'm sure I'm bruised."

"Right, whatever. Anyway, we'll buy some headsets after we make some more money. Think of your bruises as an investment." Shoko examined one of the targets more closely. "Oh, by the way, I'm staying at your house again."

"I'll have to ask my parents, and -"

"I'm sure they won't mind. Do that for me."

"Alright. Hey, you know what we should do?"

"What's that, Tama?"

"We need a team name. Something to identify ourselves by."

"You come up with that. I'm not super-creative like you are."

"I wouldn't say that, but, um, If you say so..." Tamae walked over towards the Toldi and sat on its front, calling her parents. Their conversation was short and ended with an "I love you too". She approached her friend once more. "They said it was fine."

"Thanks. Let's get back to your place, yeah?"

***

They returned to Tamae's house without incident. This time, Shoko ate with the Wakabayashi family, happily stuffing her face. Mr. Wakabayashi had made space for her, and the Mrs. happily made just enough food for one more person. "Thanks for letting me eat dinner, too, Mrs. W," Shoko said through a full mouth. "They should start putting your cooking in TV dinners."

"Oh, I'm flattered, but really, it's nothing special."

"No, really, I'm serious!" The response was enthusiastic enough that it even startled Mrs. Wakabayashi, who began to laugh.

"She's right, Kiyoko." Mr. Wakabayashi chuckled, and then his attention turned to his daughter. "So, Tamae. How'd school go today? I remember you saying you had a big test today."

"I did?" Tamae's face contorted into one of confusion for a moment, very quickly to shock, and then immediately blurted out "I did!"  
Mrs. Wakabayashi sighed. "Honestly, how do you forget what you did only a few hours ago? Maybe you ought to cut back on the games."

"Oh, relax, Kiyoko. She's fine. Even I forget what I did at work sometimes," Tamae's father replied, defending his daughter. "Besides, I'm sure she did fine on her test. Right?" Her father looked right at her and smiled, and that terrified Tamae. She froze up for a moment and could only nod in response.

Soon dinner was over, and Shoko offered to help Tamae with the dishes for the night. With two people it went by quickly, and soon they were up in Tamae's room again.  
"He knows, Shoko! He knows we skipped school! Ah, my mother's going to kill me if she finds out... what if he already told her!?"

"Relax, relax, Don't get so worked up over it. If your mom was going to kill you, she would have done it when you got home."

"That's true, I guess," Tamae said, sitting on her bed slowly, starting to take deep breaths.

"Besides that, did you come up with a team name yet?"

"Uh, I guess so..."

"Tell me it."

"How about Bat Team? It's pretty simple, I think, and it's cool."

"But it's not cute, Tama."

"Bats are definitely cute, too. Look, give me a second," she said, rapidly tapping on her phone's screen before showing her friend her phone. On the screen were search engine results for cute images of bats. Shoko's eyes lit up and she began to scroll through the images, 'hmm'ing and 'hum'ing all the while. Eventually, she stopped.

"You win. We're Bat Team now. Your mission is complete," the tanned girl said in an official-sounding voice, saluting her friend. "Just kidding. That's all, though. So what're you doing tonight?"

"I was thinking I was going to work on my story..."

"Good. Do that. It gives me a chance to do something too."

"Like what?"

"You'll see, you'll see." Tamae moved over to her laptop and opened up a text file, staring at the screen. Before too long she was typing away, completely in her element. Shoko watched her for a little while from the bed, but before long she began using her own phone, sending texts and receiving them, her phone vibrating every other minute with a new message. This worried Tamae, but she felt Shoko knew what she was doing and let her carry on.

This carried on throughout the night until both girls decided it was late and that they would be getting some sleep. Tamae woke up in the morning at a normal hour for a schoolday and shook Shoko awake, who informed her she was not going to school. Tamae tried to persuade her, as she always did, to no avail, Shoko rolling over and covering herself up. "I need to be at home for a while today anyway," she said, "so I'm gonna skip." Tamae sighed and shook her friend twice more, but it was fruitless, and she would run late if she dawdled too long. So she showered, got dressed, and ate breakfast with her parents by herself, running upstairs before she left to grab her cell phone, which she had forgotten. "Tama," Shoko began, her earlier drowsiness almost completely gone from her voice, "I'll meet you outside the school today at two-thirty."

"Why don't you just come to school if you're going to make me leave early?"

"Can't. We have a match and I need to prepare."

"W-what!? Shoko, I'm not ready for -" Mrs. Wakabayashi called for Tamae from downstairs, chastising her that she'd be late if she goofed off too much, and Tamae gave an extremely exasperated sigh. "I'll text you, okay?" she said, then hurried down the stairs and off to school. Shoko headed downstairs shortly after Mr. Wakabayashi and Tamae had left, and Mrs. Wakabayashi was the only one left in the house aside from her.

"Shoko, you're not going to school today?"

"No can do. Got some stuff to do at home," she said.

"You really should start attending your classes, young lady. It's your future we're talking about, you know?"

"I know. But I gotta do what I gotta do, Mrs. Wakabayashi."

"There's nothing more important than your future. You're just a child right now, Shoko. I understand your situation, but..." There was silence for a few moments after that, just long enough to be awkward. Tamae's mother had the words, but she did not want to say them, and so was quiet. Shoko just wanted to get going, and after it became clear that Tamae's mother had said all she had to say, Shoko smiled at her.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, by the way. I'll see you later, alright? Bye." Turning and leaving, Mrs. Wakabayashi smiled and waved her off as well.

"Goodbye."

Shoko parked the Toldi in the shed and turned off the engine. After some searching around in the shed, she bit her lip and exited the shed, walking across the grass to her home. Her place of residence was rather unique among her peers, in that it was an old lighthouse built to overlook the sea; it had been inherited from her grandmother when she passed away. It was painted white, though that was chipping and flaking off almost all the way up the structure. Thankfully in this age it had been fully renovated with modern conveniences, as Shoko had always hated camping and being without electricity or cellphone coverage. Even as she stood outside the door, she could hear voices inside arguing about something or other, and she sighed as she opened the door. "I'm home," she said lifelessly.

The inside of Shoko's home was messy and claustrophobic. Because it was a lighthouse the interior rooms were rather small with high ceilings, though there were four of them stacked on top of each other, and because her parents were like they were the place was a disaster. Things were strewn about the floor, the sink was full of messy dishes, some that had been there for days, there was at least one piece of paper or plastic garbage on every conceivable surface, and two full black garbage bags sat next to the garbage can, which was already overflowing. Having not been home in two days, the smell immediately hit Shoko's nose like a wall as soon as she was inside in addition to another: the smell of alcohol. Empty bottles of cheap beer lay everywhere in the house. She wrinkled her nose as one of the other two people in the house walked up to her drunkenly, her words slurred as she began to speak. "I haven't seen you in a week! How are you, my lovely daughter?"

"It's been two days, Mom. Where's my toolkit?"

"She sold it," interjected a male voice, this one clearly not drunk. It came from a man sitting on a dirty couch trying to watch television.

"I did not, your grandma came to get it," Shoko's mother responded.

"Grandma's not here. She's been gone for years."

"Yeah, quit your lyin'," her father's voice called from across the room.

"Oh, oh... Oh yeah..." Her mother said, her voice quickly breaking down into sobs that only lasted about a minute. Shoko felt very uncomfortable in this situation and began to try to escape via the stairs that led up to her room - at the very least, she could get some fresh clothes and leave for Tamae's house again - when her mother called out to her. "Shoko Kurosawa!" she shouted.

"Shut up!" her father yelled back.

"No, you shut the fuck up," her mother said in a childish voice. "Anyway, Shoko, Shoko... I love you so much, you know? You're mommy's girl, right? Do you have any money you can lend mommy?" She gave her best smile to her daughter

"I don't." Shoko reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone, intent on messaging her friend to tell her they'd need to stop by Kankan's, the Senshado store, and so to be ready at one-thirty. Her mother's expression soured.

"Y'messagin' that Wakabayashi bitch? I'm sure she's been lendin' you some money. C'mon, I know you got it."

"I don't."

"Shut the fuck up!" Her father shouted. "I'm trying to watch TV before work!" He picked up an empty plastic cup and threw it at Mrs. Kurosawa, who in her drunken stupor was hit right in the head but seemed to ignore it.

Shoko bit her lip and hurried up the stairs to pack some clothes into a backpack. It only took a few minutes, and she was right back downstairs; the yelling and shouting had gone on pretty much nonstop the whole time she was upstairs. As Shoko began to leave, her mother stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I really need some money," she said, starting to sob again. "I'll win big this time, I promise!"

Shoko couldn't stand it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled-up 1000-yen bill. She stuffed it into her mother's hands, who had instantly stopped sobbing,and hurried out the door.

***  
Shoko tapped her foot inside the Toldi. She had been waiting for Tamae for twenty minutes and she was not answering her texts. Shoko was getting frustrated, and when she saw Tamae walking out of the school a good five minutes later she had half a mind to yell at her. "Why were you so late?"

"Sorry, I had a test today that I couldn't miss. I forgot all about it..." she said, meekly. Shoko grumbled and punched Tamae in the arm. "Ow!" she squeaked, excessively loudly for the amount of force Shoko put into the punch.

"Don't be late again."

"Okay, I'm sorry..."

After the drive to Kankan's and some amount of money later, Shoko was in a decent enough mood again, and she and Tamae were talking like best friends again. Shoko picked up a small toolkit, comfortably within Tamae's budget, materials for a stencil, and black paint. The girls drove for some way after that to the designated meeting place for their match; they created, very swiftly, a stencil of a black vampire bat based off an image they found online and sprayed it onto the turret of the tank. There were already spectators starting to line the streets, and the girls overheard lots of talk about the matchup.

Tamae seemed very nervous to be around so many people, so she stayed inside the tank after the stencil had been created. This was entirely contrary to Shoko, who was standing outside the tank and greeting passerby and trying to sell the Bat team as the next biggest thing in Tankathlon. She stood next to the open driver's hatch and looked at the crowd, pointing at a person who was wearing an outlandish costume - a large, frilly skirt with lots of pink, white, and gold. "Hey, Tamae. What's a magical girl doing here?"

"What?" Tamae answered instinctively, though when she followed Tamae's finger to where it was pointing she understood. "I don't know... um, I'm pretty sure that hair is a wig,though..."

"Or dyed, but what kinda person would dye their hair pink?"

"Why do you think they showed up here in cosplay?"

"They probably just like doing it."

"Hey, Shoko. Is she coming towards us?"

"I think she is. I hope she didn't see me pointing at her."

The girl was in fact coming towards them, and in a flash she wwas in front of the Toldi, eyeing the two girls intently without saying a word. "Can I help you?" Shoko asked.

"You must be Bat Team!" the strange girl said enthusiastically. "Which one of you was Shoko?"

"That's me, but that must mean you're Chieko?"

"No, no, don't call me that here! The fans can't know my secret! In Tankathlon, I'm Shiny Magnum! With a star in between 'Shiny' and 'Magnum'. it's cuter that way, yeah?" Tamae suppressed a laugh - badly - but the strange girl either didn't notice or didn't care. "Wait, didn't you say your hair was black?" The girl asked, cocking an eyebrow at Shoko, who took a moment to react.

"Ah. Must've been a typo. My bad." She shrugged.

"Oh no, it's perfectly fine!" Shiny Magnum looked down at her phone and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh! I wish we had more time to get to know each other, but the match starts soon, so please meet me at the starting line, okay? I'll be in the pretty pink tank!" She winked and performed a cute pose Tamae swore she had seen in an anime and then skipped off.

"She seems nice," Tamae said after a brief moment of silence.

"Yeah," Shoko said. "Let's get going, alright?" Tamae nodded, and they were off to the starting area.


	3. Chapter 3

The engine of the tank rumbled lowly as the Toldi sat in the team's starting area. A grassy, somewhat hilly land flanked by a vast forest that spread out the west, Shoko's mind raced thinking of all the different possible maneuvers and tactics they might use the terrain for before she was snapped back to reality by Tamae's voice. "Did you see that pose she did? Straight out of an anime," she said, her head peering out the driver's hatch. Shoko turned around and easily spied the most recognizable vehicle on the field: a short tank, smaller even than most of the others present, that was painted hot pink. She sighed.

"She's definitely somethin', all right," Shoko said.

"But the color gives it character, right?"

"I guess so."

"We should paint the Toldi black then," Tamae said, her voice hopeful. "With red highlights."

"We're not painting it black," Shoko stated firmly.

"Aw."

Just then, the radio inside the tank crackled to life, and the voice of a familiar magical girl cosplayer filled echoed out from it. "Alright, everyone," it said in an upbeat, almost singsongy sort of way, "are you ready to rumble?! Don't answer that, I know you all are. So let's get the plan straight." She cleared her throat, and through the radio the sounds of paper unfurling and rustling could be heard. "The central force - we'll call it Magic Group - will head straight across the plains and meet the enemies. We'll bait them in with our flag, and while we do that, the West and East forces, um, Moon and Star Groups, will flank around and attack 'em from the back. That way we'll destroy their main force in the center and mop up any stragglers!" She laughed triumphantly, and then begun to list the particulars of who would go where, which Shoko and Tamae both ignored until they heard their team being announced. "Bat Team! I know you're new to this group, but you two have been in soooo many matches, so I'm putting you with Moon Group, okay?"

"Yeah. Uh, Roger, I mean."

Shiny Magnum kept going on after that. Tamae looked to Shoko, drawing her eyes away from the forests they would be driving through, and stared at her with an expression of mild disbelief. "You lied to her about us?"

"Well, yeah. How else was I supposed to get us in on this? It's not like she would've recruited newbies, so I made us sound experienced."

"How do you know she wouldn't have recruited us?"

"I don't, but -"

"Shoko, you can't lie about stuff like that! What happens when we get caught?"

"If we get caught."

"We will! I don't know how to drive in the woods! We didn't practice that! On top of that, we've only practiced shooting once, Shoko! How **aren't** we going to get caught?" Tamae panicked, her voice charged with anxiety.

Shoko pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long, pained sigh. "Okay. We'll just have to stop, um, basically every time we want to shoot something. Uh... We'll have to hide behind stuff a lot, too. And if we get hit and survive, run away, even if we're totally fine. That way we can still make ourselves look good instead of just dying really quick."

Tamae bit her lip and sighed, half in frustration and another half in apprehension. "It's not like we can just leave now, anyway, but can you do me a favor after this is over?" she asked, her hands gripping the driver's hatch like a vice.

"You want me to apologize, don't you?"

"Yes."

The tan girl was quiet for a solid minute, the only noise the rumbling of tank engines starting up as the time of the match's start drew nearer with every minute. "I promise," she said irresolutely beore climbing back into the Toldi and closing the hatch above her. "But if we win, admit my plan worked."

"Fine," Tamae said, already inside the tank herself. "But if we totally job in our first skirmish, then I'm posting that really embarassing fanfic of yours in the group chat." Shoko grimaced.

The sudden sound of a horn going off alerted the mass of vehicles that the match was to start, and the Toldi started out nicely, falling into formation with Moon Group almost seamlessly. Driving on open ground was no problem for Tamae, and though she wobbled back and forth in the formation somewhat so did some others. It helped that there were some relatively slow tanks in Moon Group, and so the rest of the group had to travel at their pace. As the group of six tanks passed into the forest and the sky was blotted out by the canopies of leaves, the radio inside the tank crackled to life. "Be careful, everybody. There's a whole bunch of things that could be waiting for us in here."

"Like what?"

"Like, uh, werewolves."

"Tomiko, werewolves don't exist."

"Just be careful!" the voice shouted, startling the two girls.

The group proceeded through the forest uneventfully for some time, and eventually they began to hear the somewhat distant sounds of gunfire and fighting. They all knew what this meant. Tamae controlled the tank as best she could in the narrow uneven paths through trees and around rocks with only a few minor mishaps like running into a tree at low speed. As it turned out, navigating through the narrow roads of the town back home was at least a little bit helpful for dodging obstacles here. As it came time for Moon Group to turn around and start heading the other way to attack the back of their opponent's main force, Shoko popped out of the hatch on her vehicle once again to check her surroundings. Trees surrounded them on all sides, as was commonplace in a forest and expected of one, and a quiet little pond sat mostly obscured by the trees. Shoko squinted hard and figured there must have been a few beavers in the pond, because there were what appeared to be mounds of grass floating on the water. _Wait, beavers don't build their dams out of grass._

The far-off gunfire became much closer as the mounds of grass erupted into a sound like beating drums, deafening Shoko as she scrambled back into the protective shell of her tank. "Reverse! Panzers!" Shoko shouted, kicking Tamae in the back, who shifted the tank into reverse and thrust the control levers forwards. Even through the drumfire of the surprise attack, the sounds of shells bouncing off of other tanks and a sound like nails on a chalkboard as shells impacted their own tank were clearly audible. The Toldi lurched backwards and began to move - until there was a _thud_ from behind them and the vehicle would move no further. The radio sparked to life as a voice started shouting at the girls: "Hey! Watch out!" Shoko didn't bother to apologize as she peeked out of the hatch again, taking a look behind her before noticing an open pathway for herself. She kicked Tamae in the right shoulder and this was enough to convey her message as the tank began to reverse to the right, sliding in between two small friendly vehicles. Shoko slid back into the tank and pressed her eye against the sight of the Toldi's gun, taking aim at the ambushers before letting loose the entire magazine in their general direction. The tanks in the pond responded with their own salvos of rapid gunfire, some of it a direct response to Shoko's attack - though one of the vehicles in front of her was hit instead of the Toldi, and a white flag promptly popped up from its top. "You idiots got us killed!" The radio spat at them, but Shoko paid it no mind as she started to reload the magazine for the twenty-millimeter autocannon.

"Shoko, where do I go!?" Tamae shouted, somehow audible over all the noise.

"Just get us out of here!" Shoko responded in kind, the tank turning and beginning to speed off into the woods as Shoko manned the gun once again, shooting at their attackers, emptying another magazine. She panicked when the sound of steel scraping against the tank surprised her; "Tama, **faster**!"

"I-I'm not sure, what if we -"

" **Just do it**!'

"Okay! Black Overdrive, go!" Tamae shouted, the tank rocketing forward as Tamae threw away all pretenses of avoiding bumps or jumps.

***  
After what seemed like forever, but according to Shoko's cellphone clock was only about eight minutes, Bat Team came to a stop in the forest. "Tama, what the hell was that Black Overdrive thing?"

"Oh, uh... I got a little to into the moment," she said, her hands visibly shaking as she removed them from the control levers, leaned back as much as possible, and sighed heavily. "I thought we were going to die. Why are we doing this, again?"

"You know why," Shoko answered. She climbed out of the Toldi through the top hatch as Tamae flipped the driver's hatch open, peeking out of it. Over the spattered gunfire they could hear something approaching, though they could not see it through the trees until it was too late - a tank coming from behind them, its turret turned towards their tank. "They followed us!?" Shoko yelped, and almost as fast as she had climbed out of the tank she climbed back in; or at least she would have, had she not tripped on an exposed root and fallen onto her hands and knees. She stood and leapt onto her vehicle's back end -but the other tank, as it got within thirty feet of them, came to a stop. A red-headed girl popped out of the top hatch of the short, stout vehicle with a wolf painted on the side of the turret.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" she asked. Tamae cimbed out of the driver's hatch and peered out from behind the turret of the Toldi at her.

"That's that girl on the radio," she said in a low voice. "You know, the one who's scared of werewolves."

"Are you going to answer me or not?" The girl asked. "You idiots got Minami's team knocked out of the match."

"We had orders from Shiny Magnum," the blonde of the group answered without missing a beat. "If we got held up we were supposed to run away and keep moving."

The redhead thought for a moment. "That does sound like her, but does that mean you had to use Minami as a shield?"  
"It was either us or her, right? You two were driving the same tank, right?"

"That's right."

"Your guns are short-barelled, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Why does that matter?"

"Wouldn't it be a pain to have my tank knocked out when it has the hardest-hitting gun out of Moon Group?"

Tamae blinked and looked up at Shoko. "Huh?"

"Yeah," she replied to Tamae. "The longer your barrel is the better you are at punching through armor, yeah? Their French tanks are pretty weak in that aspect."

"I guess you're right," Tomiko answered again, after a long pause. "It's a real mess back there. Lots of tanks held up in the fight. I only got away because the others covered me." She frowned. "So I guess that means I'm with you, huh?"

"Yeah. Follow us," Shoko answered. "Watch behind us, too."

"Oh, wait!" she said. "What should I call you? My callsign's Loup-Garou team."

Shoko blinked. That's right; she hadn't introduced herself. "I'm Shoko, and that's Tamae." She motioned to the raven-haired girl waving meekly at Tomiko. "We're Bat Team."

Once inside her vehicle, Shoko began to detail the plan with Tomiko. "We'll just head east until we hit their main force and hit 'em from the side. Their flagtank is bound to be protected by the main force, right? So we just attack them rom there and we'll get it eventually." Shoko tuned the radio to the channel which the rest of the team was using for inter-group communications, and sounded off. "This is Bat Team. We'll be attacking their main column with Loup-Garou team."

Shiny Magnum's voice was the first to answer her. "Don't, don't! They held up Star Group too -you'll just get annihilated! Search for their flag instead! It wasn't with the ambushers for either side force."

"Tell me where to look."

"I don't know! It's..." She gasped. "It's probably circling around to hit me from the re - Nago, **reverse**! Sorry, er, check the outside edges of the forest you're in."

"Gotcha," Shoko replied, and turned the radio down. The engine of the Toldi came to life as it began to move southwards with a new ally in tow, hoping to intercept the enemy flag before it could outflank their own.


	4. Chapter 4

Ten minutes had passed. The wind whipped Shoko's face and hair as she scanned the panorama laid out before her, her vision now unobstructed by trees, as the Toldi had broken free of the forest just moments ago. She was frantically looking for any signs of movement relatively close to her own tank. They kept a loose formation with Loup-Garou team, who trailed just a bit behind their own vehicle in their Renault R35. Tomiko sat on the open hatch on the rear of the R35's turret, scanning to either side as well as behind; her driver had opened her hatch for better visibility, and Shoko could see from the sun glinting off multitudes of jewelery that she had good taste in fashion.

It took only another five or so minutes for the two to spot another group in the distance. Shoko climbed back into her tank, as did Tomiko; her driver shut the hatch. Shoko began to work the radio, calling to the tank just acouple dozen meters away from her own. "Tomiko, I th-

"It's _Loup-Garou_ ," the girl on the other end of the radio corrected.

" _Tomiko_ , could you tell if their flag was with them?"

"Yeah, it was."

"Then we go and pulverize 'em into the dirt. Simple."

"There's three of them and two of us, though, and I don't know if they've seen us yet. I think it's safe to assume they have, so we should try to drag them into a fight. I think, anyway."

Shoko went quiet for a moment, turning her head. "Tamae, tell me what you think." Her response was simple and straightforward: "I have no idea."

"What do you mean, you have no idea? You must have something to say, so tell me," Shoko ordered.

"I think we should listen to Loup-Garou, if that's okay. I mean, they probably have more experience than us..."

Shoko sighed and spoke into the radio again. "Alright. So we just drive at them and start shooting. That'll draw their attention."

"I agree. Once we have their attention, I'll try to draw some fire, and you get in and take out the flag."

Shoko agreed and peeked out the hatch out of her tank once more. They were within firing distance already. She wondered only briefly why the column of three tanks hadn't started shooting at them yet - until they did, their turrets rotating and beginning to loose shells upon the Toldi and the R35. A few came extremely close; one or two thumped against the thick armor of the R35, and one even ripped through one of the thin metal track covers on the Toldi, though thankfully it continued through harmlessly without anything more than superficial damage. Shoko had already retreated back into the tank and closed the hatch at this point, taking her place at the gunner's sight. "Tama, speed up and make it hard for them!" Tamae obeyed after hestating for a moment, the tank beginning to lurch back and forth as its speed increased. Shoko looked for the tank with the small identifier that it was the flag, a blue flag attached to the side of the tank, and found it; she aimed and pulled the trigger of the autocannon, which slung its entire magazine of shells at her target with no hits. Shoko cursed under her breath; it was difficult to aim while moving like this.

A voice begun to shout from the radio. "What are you doing!? I can't leave here without getting knocked out, you know!" It was Shiny Magnum this time, and she sounded just as desperate as she did angry. Shoko left the gunner's sight to attend to the radio momentarily in which time another several bullets fell upon her, pinging and bouncing off it harmlessly. "We're working on it!" she called back into the device, before turning back to the gun, reloading it and taking position at the sight once more.

"Alright! Time for this werewolf to howl!" Tomiko called through the radio as her tank's stubby cannon _chunk_ ed again. After a moment there was an explosion about 300 meters in front of Shoko's position and white smoke quickly began to obstruct both her and Tamae's views directly in front of them. "I can't shoot what I can't see!" Shoko shouted through the radio after leaving the gun once again.

"Just shoot them when you come through it. It's to cover you! That's my gift to you!" Tomiko responded before the R35 took off to circle around the smokescreen and draw fire, loosing shells through the smokescreen blindly. Shoko was about to give her a piece of her mind, but the sounds of shells and bullets tearing through non-vital parts and bouncing off the Toldi's turret sides were enough to remind her to get back to position. "Tama, drive straight through that smokescreen. Once we're through it, head straight for their flag. Make sure to swerve a lot."

"Do you want me to head straight for it or swerve?"

Shoko grumbled. "You know which it is," she returned. Shoko's stomach tied itself in knots as they approached the smokescreen at maximum speed and her hands shook as they gripped the gun. "It's time to win that prize money!" Shoko shouted as they entered the smoke screen; as they exited it, Shoko found the opposing flag, whose turret was aimed a bit too much to the left to fire at her. From this distance she could tell it was a T-70. Shiny Magnum shrieked at whoever would listen through the radio: " **It can see me, it can see me!** " Shoko's heart raced as she pulled the trigger, loosing the entire magazine once more on the opposing flag; Shoko's heart beat like a drum when she did not see the white flag pop up from anywhere on it, and she quickly rushed to grab a fresh magazine, her excitement pounding the blood through her veins. "Tamae, **TURN!** "

"Yes! **Fatal Evasion, Execute!** "

That was a fatal mistake, because Tamae, on instinct, turned to the left.

Shoko was hurled against the side of the turret by some force, and Tamae begun to scream as a sound like steel being sheared apart deafened both girls even more than they already were. When Shoko had regained her senses, it was already too late - another deafening CRASH made her lose her balance again. She stayed on the floor of the tank even after her hearing came back after several seconds and she heard the loud, conclusive buzzers signalling the end of the match. Tamae leaned back in her seat as much as she could, letting her body go limp. In the now-mute interior of the Toldi, she was the first one to break the silence.

"We lost, Shokotan."

Shoko sat on the grass with a black look on her face, holding her right hand with her left. She was ignoring Tamae and Tomiko's conversation about ghosts or whatever they were talking about, preferring instead to sit and stew, both in her own anger over being knocked out of the match and her trepidation about having to apologize for lying. She had promised her friend, after all, but that didn't stop it from being an incredibly unpleasant experience.

"Oh, there you are." The voice belonged to Shiny Magnum. Shoko looked up from the ground and saw that she was holding an envelope and wearing a smile on her face. "We lost, you know," Shoko said.

"I know~ It's not like I've never lost before," Shiny Magnum replied, giggling. "Did you hurt your hand?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Guess I did. It'll be fine, just a bruise."

"That's good! Um not good, but you get what I mean. Anyways, here." She handed Shoko the white envelope, which was rather thick.

"What's this?"

"It's your pay, silly! I mean, even though we lost, you don't just walk away with nothing."  
Shoko was speechless for a moment, then tore open the envelope and laid out the paper bills contained inside. It was more money than she could ever remember holding at one time - just a little bit under 28000 yen. "There's somethin' I'm supposed to tell you, anyway," Shoko started. "The truth is, I sort of, uh, lied. About me and Tama's experience."  
"I knew that," Shiny Magnum replied. "Do you really think this is the first time somebody's lied to me about this kind of thing? I can smell amateurs from a mile away!" she puffed her chest out and put her hands on her hips. "Still, you did lie, so I guess I should punish you in the name of love and justice." _Oh, no. Is she going to take my prize money back?_ Shoko worried in her head. Shiny Magnum closed the distance with a step or two and curled her hand into a fist. Shoko braced herself - and was lightly tapped on the head. " _Ton!_ Anyway, it's not that big a deal. We probably would have lost just the same without you, too, and you tried your best, yeah?"

Shoko was relieved that she wasn't about to get into a yelling match with the girl in front of her, but the sudden exodus of all of her nerves and anxiety leaving her caused her legs to give out under her and she sat back on the ground, starting to sniffle and bawl like a baby. "I just wanted to make money," she sobbed through tears choked back. "I'm sowwyyyy! I did my besht!"

Shoko felt a pair of thin arms embrace her from behind. "You big bonehead," Tamae's voice said quietly. "Do you get why I didn't want you to lie now?" She sighed, and patted Shoko's head. Shiny Magnum knelt down in front of the two; Tomiko watched from her own vehicle. "I'm sorry for making you cry," Tamae apologized. "I won't post your fanfic in the group chat, you know. I was just saying that to scare you."

"I knowww," Shoko sobbed.

"I'll tell you girls what," Shiny Magnum said. "Why don't you come to this crusader of justice's practice next week? You can learn a lot from team practice."

Shoko nodded and wiped her eyes.

Shoko sat lazily inside the Toldi as it began to drive back slowly to the Wakabayashi household. Tomiko had agreed to fix the track for them for nothing, and the tank was still running after the hit that knocked it out, so there was no need to have it towed back. Shoko grumbled. "Tama, I'm sorry."

"I know, Shokotan. I forgive you. Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you, but I forgot until now. I thought Tomiko seemed familiar, especially when I was talking to her, but I figured it out."

"Huh?"

"I know her from that _Occultist Believers_ Tumult server I'm in. She's always talking about werewolves there. I guess she really likes them."

"It could just be a coincidence, Tamae."

"Mm-mm. See, when we were talking, the topic of that server came up, so I know for sure."

The inside of the tank was quiet for a small while. "Tama, buy something nice for yourself with your half of the money."

"I was going to anyway, but, um, why do you say that?"

"I spent a ton of your money on... this, so it's the least I can do," Shoko answered quietly.

"Okay, but in return, I'd like it if you didn't hit things when you got mad... you might end up breaking a finger or something."  
It was quiet again for a little while, the only noise being the occasional direction from Tamae's phone's GPS function, until Tamae spoke up again. "Want me to ask my parents if you can stay the night?"

"Yeah. Please."


	5. Chapter 5

Awoken by light pouring in through her window, Tamae found herself grateful that she was not brought out of her sleep by the harsh buzzing of the alarm on her cell phone. She rolled out of bed groggily, her body stiff and sore in places she did not even recall having before. As per her morning routine, she showered, letting the hot water bring her mind to a state of awareness she otherwise could not have attained simply by waking up. After that, she brushed her teeth, ran a brush quickly through her hair - which did almost nothing to correct its naturally untamed look - put on her uniform, and shuffled down the stairs or breakfast. Her mother had laid out a breakfast for two young high-school age girls and one grown man. Nothing incredibly special, but the kind a parent excited for their child's future success would make: a single fried egg, two strips of bacon, and two pieces of toast with strawberry jam instead of butter. Mrs. Wakabayashi was sitting in the living room, watching the morning news as she usually did, when she noticed Tamae sitting down to eat her breakfast. "Tamae, why are you wearing your uniform?" Tamae did not answer her mother immediately, and instead stared at her with a blank look on her face. Tamae's mother could almost see the gears turning in her daughter's head, until her expression betrayed that she had figured out the answer.

"Ah. Today isn't a school day," she answered sheepishly as she took a bite out of her toast. She finished her breakfast in mostly-silence until her father showed up in the kitchen in his work uniform.

"Ah, got a bit mixed-up today, honey?" He asked, beaming at his daughter. "You're so eager to learn you forget you need days off too, huh? Happens to the best of us." Mr. Wakabayashi sat down at the table across from his daughter and began to eat as well. "Been working on your stories lately?"

"Not really, I've been sort of overwhelmed with school and, er... life," Tamae said.

"Then take today to work on what you want to work on. No reason not to!" He looked over his shoulder to his wife. "Hear that, dear? No chores for her today; she's got some authoring to do."

Mrs. Wakabayashi did not look away from the television as she answered, but laughed softly anyway. "Sure, sure. Just make sure you pick up her slack."

Mr. Wakbayashi beamed.

The sound of a keyboard and the faint muteness of loud music through a pair of headphones on somebody else's head were what Shoko could hear when she was roused from her sleep. She was up as soon as she knew where she was, and it took only a few minutes before she was out of her pajamas and into the day's clothes, though she didn't bother to tie up her hair. She glanced over at Tamae who was sitting at her computer typing away with a text editor open. Shoko walked over to her and very lightly brushed a finger down the back of her neck, which made the black-haired girl jump and spin around, tearing her headphones off. "Gotcha," Shoko said with a titter.

"You scared me," Tamae replied. "I didn't even know you were awake."

"That's 'cause you had your music really loud. I wasn't quiet. I even started shouting at you to see if you'd hear me."

"R-really?"

"No, not really. I just wanted to see how you'd react. Either way, what've you got planned today? Gonna work on your stuff?"

"Yeah, I was thinking I could do that today and just relax..."

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to head out for a shopping trip. We've got the cash, you know."

Tamae took a few seconds to think over the idea. "Sure, I guess... There was a new game I wanted to check out, anyway."

"Oh yeah? Tell me about it."

"Tomiko told me about it, actually. It's a game where you play as a vampire hunter in a Victorian city."

"That's cool. Sounds up your alley," Shoko responded as she began to rifle through the room, looking for wherever she had placed her bag full of makeup. "I think I'm gonna pick some stuff up for my house. You know, maybe fix it up a bit, make it look nicer on the inside."

"But, uh, what about your parents? Won't they -"

"Don't worry about my parents," Shoko spat, cutting off Tamae. "If they have a problem with me using my money on the house, then they can get bent. It was Gramma's house, and it's my house too," she finished, pulling her bag decorated with cute panda bears from under Tamae's bed. "Finally. Anyhow, make sure you get ready, yeah? I'm going to be doing my makeup in your bathroom."

Tamae was already ready, so most of her time spent while Shoko was in the bathroom was saving the work she'd done on the computer and telling her friends online she'd be back later. As soon as Shoko was done, she marched into Tamae's room and just about dragged her out, down the stairs, and they were about to head out the door when Tamae's mother called out to them. "Shoko, eat your breakfast. You don't want to waste it, yeah?" Shoko looked towards Tamae pleadingly, who responded with a shrug. Shoko sat down and sighed, starting to shovel the food into her mouth as quickly as possible. Not even she could win against Mrs. Wakabayashi's breakfasts.

After she had finished her breakfast, Shoko dragged her friend out to the Toldi which was sitting outside. "You're gonna have to drive us again," Shoko said, and Tamae obliged. Soon they were off to town's shopping hub. They debated between each other whether or not they should hit up the game store or the book store first; eventually it was decided upon by both parties that they would visit the game store first, and then the book store, and then the general retail store in town in order to pick up some supplies for Shoko's planned project. Lastly, they would stop by a fast-food place and get a late lunch. According to the plan, they pulled into the parking lot of the game store. Tamae marveled at all the games with pretty-boy anime characters on the box art for a while; Shoko instead played the demonstration consoles set up in the corners of the store while she waited. Eventually, Tamae found the game she was looking for and paid for it; she left the store with Shoko immediately after.

Next they stopped by the book store. Shoko once again followed Tamae inside and immediately headed to the manga section - as did Tamae. However, Tamae knew exactly what she was looking for and picked up the two volumes she was looking for, then headed off elsewhere in the store. By the time she was done Shoko had read quite a few chapters of a manga she had never even heard of before about a man who gets into trouble with the Yakuza and has to gamble his way out of it. Tamae was carrying a bag laden with three or four books in addition to her manga, and Shoko looked at her quizzically. "What's all that?"

"Books on magic stuff. Spells, ghosts, vampires, zombies, dragons, stuff like that."

"Right. So we're off to Nakamura-mart, and then we'll stop by WcDonald's. Then I'll bring you over to my place, and we can start fixing up the tank's shed, at least."

"Uh, Shokotan, I don't now about that..."

"What do you mean? Are you being lazy?"

"I wanted to work on my stories today."

"Oh, yeah. I can just drop you off at home, then," Shoko said, her voice sounding just a bit dejected.

"Sorry. Next time, okay?"

After a greasy meal of cheap burgers, fries, and soda, Shoko had dropped her friend off at home. She drove herself back home, and when she got there she parked the tank outside the shed she usually housed it in while she was there and began to remove the paints, nails, hammers, screwdrivers, and other supplies she'd bought from the inside. She laid them out in front of the tank on a large white cloth and got to work on the building. She repainted one side of the building with a fresh coat, re-nailed in boards on the inside, and fixed the loose door hinges; all of this took several hours alone, and when she was done she was completely exhausted. by this time it was starting to get dark, though she still took the opportunity to take a picture of herself standing in front of the shed's newly-repainted wall and post it on her social media accounts. The girl headed inside her home, totally exhausted and only looking forward to collapsing on a bed; she knew her father was at work, so her mother would likely be passed out somewhere in the house.

The inside of the house was just as dirty, if not dirtier, than the last time she had gone inside, and the inside of the building smelled strongly of booze and garbage. One thing she noticed almost immediately besides the smell was that the television was gone, her mother passed out drunk on the couch where her father would usually sit and watch it. No doubt her mother had sold that to pay for her habits, she guessed. _That shouldn't make me angry,_ she thought. But it did, and that anger mounted rapidly as she climbed up the stairs to her room. Her anger came to a head as she entered her room: several things looked as if they had been looked through, and on closer inspection it was obvious that someone had taken earrings, clothes, and other items from her belongings, and they were nowhere to be found. Though she found herself exhausted from the work she'd just done, her fury overrode it for the time being as she stomped back down the stairs and approached her unconscious mother.

"Mom," she said firmly, shaking her roughly to wake her up.

"Huh? Wha- Oh, Shoko! I haven't seen you in a month," her mother answered, grinning.

"It's been a few days. Tell me where my stuff is," Shoko said.

"What stuff you talkin' about?"

"My earrings. Clothes. Makeup. They were in my room. Did you sell them?" Shoko was beginning to raise her voice at her mother, who began to sit up.

"I didn't touch nothin'!"

"Then where did they all go?"

"Uh... yeah, actually, I mighta pawned em. You got any cash?"

Shoko froze for a moment, in her head taking stock of the house around her. "No," she said firmly.

"Whaddaya mean no? You always got cash. I need it for the, uh, bills."

"You don't, Mom," Shoko answered, her voice beginning to break.

"Come on, Shoko," her mother began to beg, her eyes tearing up. "I'll win it this time. I promise. Then we can all live together again and you won't leave for months at a time." Shoko stayed silent, her eyes beginning to tear up as well. "You won't spend all your time there, and I can be your mother again, so just lend me some mo-"

"I don't have any money!" Shoko shouted at her mother. "I never have any money because you take it all! It's always, **always** 'I'll win this time, Shoko' or 'I'll pay you back, I promise', and then you start crying and... and... I can't take it!" Shoko ran out of the house, slamming the door behind her as she climbed into the Toldi and sunk down in the driver's seat. It wasn't very warm or comfortable. _Better than in that house with that woman_ , she thought to herself.

"Hey, Mom? I wanted to talk to you about something," Tamae said to her mother, who was busy preparing dinner before her husband got home. "It's about Shoko."

"What is it, dear?" her mother asked.

"She got really mad today when I mentioned her parents. Then she got kind of upset when I didn't want to go to her place. I didn't say it, but... I'm pretty scared of her parents," Tamae said. "But I don't want her to think... you know..."

"That you don't care about her?"

"Yeah."

Tamae's mother pulled out a chair at the table, then sat down in her own. "Sit," she instructed her daughter, who did so. "It's natural to be scared of her parents, but I don't think she thinks you don't care about her. After all, you have her staying over almost every night you can, and you're almost always that phone messaging her."

"Yeah, but... she's gotten involved in some stuff trying to make some money. She says it's for her, but... I dunno, I feel like she's just trying to help her parents..."

"She needs to learn it's not her responsibility to fix her mother's addiction or pay her debts," Tamae's mother said with a sigh. "Especially not with whatever shady business she's gotten herself into. That girl is a handful."

"But, um... How do I, you know... help her?"

"Remember when you were young and you'd get sick, and you'd have to take some icky medicine? You complained and whined and one time you even cried, but it always made you feel better later. You need to confront Shoko about it and tell her the Wakabayashi household will always be open to her. Of course, that means she'll have to follow our rules - particularly about attending school."

"I don't know if I can confront her. She gets kind of scary when she's mad."

"Then I'll do it next time she's here. Do you really want me doing it?"

"To be honest, it'd be a lot easier on me..."

"Sure it would. But then it'd be coming from me, an authority figure, instead of you, her friend. Knowing Shoko, who do you think she's more inclined to listen to?"

Tamae was quiet for what was an awkwardly long silence between the two. "I'll try to talk to her. Thanks, mom."


	6. Chapter 6

Shoko sat on the front of her tank in the parking lot of the local WcDonald's. She had figured it best to get herself some lunch before stopping to pick up Tamae. Although there was still risk that she might be caught driving without a license, Tamae had said there were things she needed to take care of before Shoko showed up, so she'd taken the time to eat. She was enjoying her greasy cheeseburger, fries, and cola while browsing her Chirper feed when she heard a familiar voice calling to her. "Kurosawa, is that you?" Shoko turned her head to her left, towards where the voice was coming from, and saw two girls leaving a red, sporty car and walking towards her.

The girls were the Shimabuku sisters, two girls Shoko had gone to middle school with, but who went to a different high school than her. They were a year apart, and were almost never seen separated from each other outside of school. "Oh, it's you two," Shoko said with a mouth full of cheeseburger. The girls stopped a meter or so from Shoko. The older sister, Bunko, was a girl who looked almost like the picture of traditional Japanese beauty; long, straight black hair, bangs perfectly cut, thin eyebrows, hazel eyes, and fair skin. She spoke up first.  
"Kurosawa, I didn't think you would do Senshado. I feel it's very unlike you, but then again, I haven't seen you in some time, so I suppose it is only natural your temperament might have changed."

The younger sister, Ichiko, who was taller and had a bit more weight to her than the older sister, messier and shorter hair, and wore glasses followed up her siblings' comment. "Yeah, that's a real ladylike sport, isn't it? Doesn't seem like something you'd be real into."

Shoko shrugged. "I'm not doin' Senshado, so don't worry your pretty little heads about it."

"Then what _are_ you doing?" asked Ichiko. Bunko's expression was one of puzzlement.

"Tankathlon," Shoko replied. Bunko's face lit up, and she clapped her hands together.

"Ah! I've caught wind of that. It sounds delightfully exciting," she said. "I wonder if Mother and Father would consider buying us a tank to participate. What do you think, Ichiko?"  
Ichiko was busy taking a few french fries from the near-empty cardboard holder they were in that Shoko had offered her. "Maybe? I'unno, we'd have to ask 'em. What do you mean 'us', though?"

"We'll talk about it later. However, right now, we are trying to have a conversation with our friend Kurosawa. How have you been? Hopefully things have been okay for you since middle school..." Bunko's expression turned a bit sad at this. "If you ever need any help or anything, well, I could always see what Mother and Father are willing to do."

Shoko bit her lip. "Thanks, but I don't need the charity, Bunko. I've got my own income now."

"C'mon, she's just tryin' to be nice, Kurosawa," Ichiko said with a mouthful.

"It would certainy make me rest easier if I could do something for you. I know ever since your grandmother passed, things have been quite rough for you," Bunko said sadly.

Shoko sighed heavily. "I see that you have a cell phone now," she said, eyeing Shoko's phone that had been sitting on her lap. "If you would allow me the privelege of your phone number, at the very least, I could get in touch and check on you. Is at least that acceptable?"

Shoko racked her brain for excuses with the few short seconds she had to reply, but could come up with none, and so relinquished her phone number to Bunko, who relayed her own for Shoko to enter into her phone.

The rest of the short conversation was fairly mundane. They briefly talked about what they had been up to since middle school, with Shoko being fairly honest about her tendency to skip school whenever humanly possible. Ichiko spoke about her manga collection being even bigger now, and Bunko relayed how different high school Senshado was from what she knew in middle school. They had to leave after a short while, since their father was waiting for them to get lunch, and Shoko was left alone again. Her own lunch finished, she climbed into the driver's seat of the Toldi and left to go pick up Tamae for their planned practice with Shiny Magnum.

Tamae stood outside waiting for her friend. She was already late, but at this point it wasn't long before Shoko showed up and popped out of the driver's hatch. "I got you a present," she beamed, holding out a brown paper bag.

"Thanks, Shoko. What took you so long to get here, by the way?"

"I ran into the Shimabuku sisters," she said.

"Huh. How are they?"

"They're fine. They wouldn't leave me alone."

"Really? How much has Bunko changed? It's not like her to pester people like that..."

"Not at all," said Shoko. "She kept giving me the whole pity routine, though. Anyway, hurry up and eat your lunch. We're gonna go to practice. I don't wanna lose again."

Tamae frowned. "But, um, Shoko, I don't know why you're so upset over seeing the Shimabuku sisters again. I thought they were pretty nice in middle school..."

"You know how they are. Always trying to give to the charity cases so they can feel superior."

"I don't think that's right," Tamae said. "I think they just want to help people."

"Well, it's not welcome. I can take care of myself."

"If you say so," Tamae said, opening the bag to eat her lunch. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yeah, I messaged her. It's not that far away."

***

After a short while of driving, the two made it to the training field where Shiny Magnum had assembled her group. She had welcomed them to the practice field which was assembled with about a dozen or so tanks, including her own, the Toldi, and Tomiko's R35. For the first hour and a half, the drills were largely on following instructions and target practice; Bat Team did well in the second half, and it was difficult to do badly in the first. Time flew, and eventually, during the target practice segment Shiny Magnum called all the tanks to gather in one area. Bat Team complied, and parked their tank next to an Italian L6/40 and Belgian T15; however, the second vehicle had a twenty-millimeter antitank rifle mounted on the hull, to the right of the driver's hatch. It stuck out in front of the tank almost comically. Shoko spied it, and it worried her, but she could not ask questions before Shiny Magnum started talking.

"Now that we've done booooring drills for a while, I thought we could do something a lot more fun! We'll split into two teams, and have a practice match!" She clapped her hands together loudly. "We'll pick two team leaders, and then they'll pick their team. Oh, and it's a flag match." She smiled, shading her eyes with one hand as she looked across the lineup of tanks. "Let's see, let's see... how about **you** , Tomiko? You'll be Group Gold!"

Tomiko nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"And let's see, who else, who else, who else... Ah, I know. Shoko! You'll be Group Silver. After all, you have tons of tankathlon experience, right?" She giggled to herself, but Shoko bit her lip and clenched her fist.

"Yeah. Right," she answered.

Everyone was allowed to have a short break of ten minutes, and when they reconvened, Shiny Magnum informed each group leader of who their teams would be composed of. Shoko looked over the sheet of paper she'd been handed; she'd also been given a map of the surrounding area, but that was clutched in another hand. She had her tank, the T15 from earlier, two T-18s, one R35, and two Tancik 33 tankettes. Shoko grimaced. Compared to Tomiko's team, hers was certainly outarmored - judging by what she had, it meant the Tomiko must have the remaining three R35s, including her own, the L6/40, and two CV33s. She returned to the Toldi and sat on the front, looking over the map she had received.

The R35 would be her flag, she decided. Its thicker armor could potentially prevent it from being knocked out even if it was hit by one of Group Gold's guns; that said, it meant that she probably couldn't use it to shield the rest of the lightly-armored group. But questions and second-guessing reeled through Shoko's mind as she began to try to think of formations and bigger battle plans, at which point, Tamae interrupted her thoughts. "Are you okay? Do you have a plan?" Shoko glanced towards her friend, who was noticably fraught with anxiety.

"No, I don't. This is hard," Shoko whined.

"Um, well... why don't we try to take the hill? I mean, uh, it'll be really easy for us to spot them and shoot at them from there..."

Shoko was quiet for a few seconds, running calculations in her head; Tamae could almost see the gears turning in her head on her friend's face. "I don't have any better ideas, so we'll use yours," she said. "You didn't seem this worried during our first match, so why are you now?"

"Yeah, but... I guess the adrenaline got the better of me when it mattered, but I was still really scared... It's scary, you know! Having bullets flying at you, and having to dodge left and right! And, well..."

"And what?"

"Er, nevermind..."

"No, come on. Spit it out. You started saying it."

Tamae broke eye contact with her friend, gazing down at the surface of the tank. "Um, I guess I'm scared of you. I mean, when you lose. You got really mad, and when you hit stuff like you did..."

"What about it?"

"It's scary."

Shoko opened her mouth to respond almost instantly, but could not find words to respond to Tamae. Instead she slowly closed her mouth and let out her breath through her nose, shifting her position on the front of the tank. "It's not supposed to be. I was just... well, it's hard for me to... it's hard for me to always accept your help all the time, especially with something like this. I can tell you're not into it." Tamae looked surprised. "But I can't stand it when I mess up after getting your help, or anyone else's."  
"Is that what made you mad about seeing the Shimabuku sisters today?"

"Yeah. I can't stand feeling like I need their help. It bugs me in a major kinda way. They weren't being mean. I just can't stand accepting their help."  
Tamae thought for a few moments. What she had talked about with her mother the previous day came to her mind. "I just wanted you to say it, really, but it doesn't all have to be up to you. Actually, it can't be. You have to learn to accept people's help, Shoko. Nobody is going to make fun of you for that, and you'll be better off with that help -" Shoko was cut off when Shiny Magnum's whistle blew. That was the signal to get in position for the match to start. "We'll talk about it more later. For now, get us to the starting line," Shoko said, climbing into the hatch of her tank.

The group arranged itself in a line, and Shoko relayed the plan she'd thought of on the way to the starting line to the rest of the group. "This is the Toldi, Bat Team. Is everybody here?"

"T15. Cat team reporting."

"T-18 number one, Zebra team!"

"Number two T-18. Sunfish team..."

"This is the R35 here, Elk team reportin' in!"

"First Tancik. Viper."

"Second Tancik. Cobra."

"Then that's everyone," Shoko said. " The R35 will be our flag. The two T-18s are pretty slow compared to the rest of us, so they'll stay in the rear with the R35 and protect it. They all have the biggest guns out of the group, so that should work. Uh, the Tanciks will be scouts and scout ahead of us. Don't get too far though. I'll lead the group at the front and the T15 will stay near me at all times. Uh, speaking of which, what's with the gun mounted on your tank?"

"There's no rules in tankathlon, right?" came a voice through the radio. "So it's perfectly legal. We had the cash, so we bought it and mounted it. You should see some of the crazy stuff some of the girls from other places do." The voice sounded strong and confident, and it put Shoko at ease a little bit.

"Alright. Let's win this, guys," Shoko said, just a moment before the whistle blew to signal the start of the practice match.


	7. Chapter 7

"I swear Tamae, you're a genius!" Shoko shouted. Both she and Tamae were deafened somewhat by the roar of the Toldi's twenty-millimeter autocannon, it having let loose a hail of fire on one of Gold Team's CV33s. Several of the shots struck their target in the side, effectively disabling it as a small white flag popped up from the front of the vehicle. The other CV33 accompanying the first darted into the treeline and zipped away from Bat Team in response before Shoko could reload. She lost sight of it and felt a pang of regret that she'd emptied an entire magazine on such a lightly-armored target and lost the chance to take out the other. "But Tamae, I've been wondering."

"What's that?"

"Well, you came up with the plan to take the hill, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"I thought when I set up an ambush that they'd all be trying to take the hill too, but we've only seen two CV33s."

"You could ask the others. Maybe they were supposed to be a diversion?"

Shoko turned to the radio. "Silver Team, have you guys seen any Golds yet? We just saw the two CV33s and knocked one out, but the other got away."

"Viper. Nothing.

"Cobra. Nothing."

"Elk team here. We ain't seen nothin' since we hid in the bushes but some birds."

"Sunfish… Haven't seen… enemies."

"Zebra hasn't seen any enemies!"

"Cat reporting. We're also coming up dry."

Shoko's face contorted as she wracked her brain to figure out what this could possibly mean. When Tamae had explained it, it made perfect sense to try to take the hill - like it should be common sense, even. And because of that, Shoko figured Tomiko would be trying to take it too; it only seemed like the smart thing to do to set up an ambush. But her thought was interrupted by the characteristic loud _pa-pa-pa-pa_ of autocannon fire very close to her tank, and then by the shaking and rattling of her vehicle as it received and deflected two hits. "Tamae!" In an instant the tank was moving towards the road on the hill and bypassed the knocked-out CV33; Shoko turned her tank's turret from inside and looked through the gunner's sight, desperately searching for her antagonist. Another staccato burst of autocannon fire followed the Toldi as it peeled out onto the road. The radio crackled to life as well; Viper and Cobra had both come under attack by a CV33 and an R35, respectively. Shoko grimaced. Viper maybe had a chance, but Cobra was probably done for. The Tancik's weak machineguns most likely couldn't do anything to the R35's thick armor.

As she frantically searched for her target, it finally emerged from the treeline and onto the road: Gold Team's L6/40 tank, which begun to give enthusiastic chase immediately. All the while it peppered the Toldi with short bursts of autocannon fire. Thankfully having to chase Shoko made it harder for them to hit her in a meaningful way. "Tamae, Keep us on the road and dodge as much as you can." Tamae did not answer but Shoko knew she would do as asked. One or two good hits and she was probably done for; the L6/40's armor would be tougher for her to punch through from the front as well. She would only get one chance before it knocked her out and any shred of her team's cohesion was lost. "Tamae, I want you to stop in ten seconds!"

"Uh-huh!" Tamae answered. Shoko aimed her gun slightly downwards. Another burst of shells flew past her tank, one pinging right off the roof of the turret.

"Shoko, R35 down the road! It hasn't seen us yet!" _Crap crap crap!_

"Stop anyway!" Tamae obeyed and the Toldi lurched forwards, the rear of the tank pitching up as Tamae put the brakes on. In the briefest moment when the tank was still, Shoko fired a short burst into the front of the L6/40 from less than fifty meters away. The tank begun to settle while Shoko tried to confirm whether she had scored a kill or whether they would be defeated soundly. A white flag popped up from the L6/40; she had been succesful.

But the Toldi was not out of hot water yet. There was still a heavily-armored opponent right down the road from them with a clear shot, and the Toldi had come to a full stop. It would take time for them to start moving, and although Tamae got on it right away, it had definitely heard the gunfire. Every muslce in Shoko's body tensed as she swung the turret around to face the R35 in front of her when a loud _crack!_ Rang out from the treeline not too far from them. "Not another one!"

To Shoko's relief, however, it was Sunfish Team! "Sunfish… we'll distract them…" the lethargic voice came through the radio as the T-18's short thirty-seven millimeter gun cracked again at the R35. It bounced off the side of its target, but this had been enough to disorient the R35 for a moment while the Toldi's turret was brought to bear against it.

"From this angle and this distance, it shouldn't matter much how thick its armor is! Good goin', Sunfish!" The Toldi's gun erupted with shells as the rest of its magazine was expended, most of which found their target against the R35's side. A moment of apprehension, and then a white flag popped up from it. Shoko's third confirmed kill. By now, she was definitely feeling the adrenaline coursing through her body. Tamae pulled up alongside Sunfish Team and Shoko poppoed out of the hatch. "Thanks for the assist, you guys."

A sleepy-looking girl with dishevelled brown hair and bags under her eyes slowly raised her upper half out of the turret of the T-18. "Ah, it's no big deal… You're the commander, after all…" She opened her mouth wide and yawned loudly. "Sorry… um… What do we do now?"

Shoko bit her lip. She wasn't sure. "Cobra and Viper are both under attack. Viper might be able to win, since they're up against the other CV33, but Cobra's probably out. That said, uh… Cat and Elk still haven't seen anything, but we just took out three of their tanks here. That means the L6, a CV, and an R35 are accounted for, and we know where another R35 is and where the second CV is. That leaves one R35 as an unknown, and it's probably the flag. Cobra didn't say the R35 they're fighting is the flag, anyway."

"I think… We should form up… and help Cobra…"

"Tell me what you think, Tamae," Shoko called into the tank.

She responded. "I'm, um… Well, we have an advantage in numbers right now, so if we group up with Sunfish, Elk, Cat, and Zebra, and go to help Cobra, they'll have to attack us to win. I think."

"Then it's decided. We'll help Cobra." Shoko climbed into her tank and broadcasted to the rest of Silver Team. "Elk, Cat, Zebra. We've formed up with Sunfish. Cobra, we're coming to help you. Viper, can you keep fighting?"

"We can."

"Alright. Uh… Zebra, Elk, Cat, here are our coordinates…"


End file.
